Last night was the final evening of Hanukkah. My family came over to my house to eat and celebrate. I have gifted myself with some new kitchen things for the holidays, first some white dishes from Ikea, which were $20 for a set of dinner plates, salad plates, and bowls for six. I decorated the table with a turquoise twin sheet, also purchased at Ikea for $5, snowflake-like doilies from the dollar store for $5, and napkins and votive holders from Big Lots for $10. The place cards were a total find at Publix when I was finishing up my grocery shopping. Total cost for tableware that I will use again for Christmas Eve - $35. Considering that my dishes previously were cobbled together from a set I had in college that is missing most of the pieces, a few from the thrift store, and some plastic ones from Target, this is a big step for me.
Of course, Hanukkah must include latkes. The technique is all in the wrist. You eat a lot of fried food, partly because the oil is symbolic of the lamp oil that lasted for eight nights, and also just because it is delicious. My mom is a master latke maker, which you must serve with applesauce and sour cream.
Penny Lane was tormented while we cooked and ate, especially because I made a new recipe for brussel sprouts with pancetta. Like a good part Jew puppy (it's legit from your mother's bloodline, so she's covered), she sniffed and snacked on crumbs all around the stove and the latkes fried. She was a maniac.
The brussel sprouts were sooooo good. It's a
Nigella recipe from the Food Network. Words cannot express how delicious these are. Even if you don't like brussel sprouts, you will love these. Pancetta is like $10 a pound, so I considered just using bacon, but it was totally worth it. I left out the chestnuts and parsley but it was still amazing.
The evening was rounded out with a little dreidel spinning and gambling with chocolate gelt. We played "high stakes" dreidel, the competition was vicious. I'm kind of sad Hanukkah is over, I really enjoyed it this year. Even though I stumbled over the Hebrew readings, I got better and it was nice to spend some time each night with my heritage and remembering those who came before me.
Last night was the final evening of Hanukkah. My family came over to my house to eat and celebrate. I have gifted myself with some new kitchen things for the holidays, first some white dishes from Ikea, which were $20 for a set of dinner plates, salad plates, and bowls for six. I decorated the table with a turquoise twin sheet, also purchased at Ikea for $5, snowflake-like doilies from the dollar store for $5, and napkins and votive holders from Big Lots for $10. The place cards were a total find at Publix when I was finishing up my grocery shopping. Total cost for tableware that I will use again for Christmas Eve - $35. Considering that my dishes previously were cobbled together from a set I had in college that is missing most of the pieces, a few from the thrift store, and some plastic ones from Target, this is a big step for me.
Of course, Hanukkah must include latkes. The technique is all in the wrist. You eat a lot of fried food, partly because the oil is symbolic of the lamp oil that lasted for eight nights, and also just because it is delicious. My mom is a master latke maker, which you must serve with applesauce and sour cream.
Penny Lane was tormented while we cooked and ate, especially because I made a new recipe for brussel sprouts with pancetta. Like a good part Jew puppy (it's legit from your mother's bloodline, so she's covered), she sniffed and snacked on crumbs all around the stove and the latkes fried. She was a maniac.
The brussel sprouts were sooooo good. It's a Nigella recipe from the Food Network. Words cannot express how delicious these are. Even if you don't like brussel sprouts, you will love these. Pancetta is like $10 a pound, so I considered just using bacon, but it was totally worth it. I left out the chestnuts and parsley but it was still amazing.
The evening was rounded out with a little dreidel spinning and gambling with chocolate gelt. We played "high stakes" dreidel, the competition was vicious. I'm kind of sad Hanukkah is over, I really enjoyed it this year. Even though I stumbled over the Hebrew readings, I got better and it was nice to spend some time each night with my heritage and remembering those who came before me.
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